Respondents to this survey highlighted several near-term priorities, including a focus on cybersecurity; customer experience; AI and machine learning; process automation; recovery and resilience; analytics and intelligence; data governance; workforce training and retention; agency collaboration; and modernization.
In honor of these recipients, we’ll be taking a closer look at their work in the final installment of this three-part series.
500,000 or More Population Category
1st San Jose, Calif.
San Jose, Calif., is a leading authority on AI in government with its GovAI Coalition, a nationwide collaboration between more than 750 government agencies. This ranges from AI to detect potholes, to AI and data literacy training to city staff at all levels as they work with the technology, to the 2025 launch of a predictive AI model identifying rental properties at high risk of eviction filings with a focus on tenant privacy. The city’s partnership with Plug and Play accelerates AI development in the city, and a new AI investment budget supports AI adoption.
San Jose’s new cyber strategy, enhancements to the Virtual Security Operations Center, mandatory training, simulation exercises, and centralization of identity and access management support its cybersecurity posture. City officials are also focused on delivering equitable and modern services to San Jose’s 1 million residents, and technology supports that goal. From using AI to address housing to using technology to support language access, San Jose is prioritizing its people. The 24/7 customer call center, SJ311, has been expanded to support residents in 200 languages. Notably, the city has a goal to increase 311 service requests in underrepresented areas through targeted outreach.
Furthering equity goals, the city has expanded its free public Wi-Fi network to cover more than 41,000 residential households in underserved neighborhoods. Tech Hubs support skills training and device access at San Jose library branches. The disability affairs officer is working to improve accessibility in city offerings, primarily focused on web services and PDFs.
San Jose’s IT Collaboration Group, launched in the spring, connects IT staff across departments for a unified approach to modernization. The city is also trying to open more channels through which local businesses can collaborate with the city, like monthly Innovation Days, during which companies can present solutions.
2nd Los Angeles
Historic wildfires, protests, persistent homelessness, preparations for the 2026 World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics — it’s never boring in Los Angeles, but city officials have their hands especially full these days, and gov tech is helping them keep it all together.
As downtown office vacancies and state economic woes threaten city revenue, the city’s tech leaders keep plowing ahead, streamlining business services to clear a path for better times and using data to better understand various urban challenges. That includes more data sharing among agencies to better connect people who lack permanent shelter with housing placement and other services. It includes creating what city officials call “centralized platforms” that can help with crisis management and recovery. And it includes boosting defenses against hackers so that upcoming global events aren’t compromised or ruined.
The city is building more protection against wildfires through deployments of AI-powered cameras and sensors, with software able to detect smoke and other indications of potential conflagrations. GIS provides real-time mapping of fires and offers evacuation routes. Another AI tool helps with smarter, more resilient building by using tech to check construction plans — an effort that can help in all types of situations, not just those brought on by emergencies.
As all that happens, the city’s 50,000 employees are enjoying a new Workday payroll system that recently replaced a 24-year-old increasingly creaky legacy tool and which also offers one-day onboarding and other benefits. City residents seeking non-emergency services are using the new Salesforce-backed MyLA311 website and mobile app, a 21st-century version of the old 311 system. With nearly 100 services available, the new 311 tool has produced service request outcomes 28 percent faster than the old way of doing things, thanks in part to the instant communication it enables between field crews and callers.
3rd San Diego
San Diego is a familiar top contender in the Digital Cities Survey, this year claiming a third-place ranking for its use of technology to better serve constituents and internal customers. The city recently made significant customer service improvements to its public utility operations, moving its call center to the Amazon Connect cloud solution and using web forms to better address customer issues. The move resulted in a 92 percent reduction in wait times, and 85 percent of customers reported that they were satisfied with the service they received. IT staff also had to rapidly deploy a solution to adjust the transient occupancy tax for hotels, which will bring in an estimated $82 million in increased funds in 2026. The new system was completed and tested ahead of the May 1, 2024, deadline.
Like many other cities, San Diego has been thoughtfully looking for opportunities to use artificial intelligence to its advantage. The city has implemented an AI Policy and AI Governance framework to guide the use of technology across the city’s 13,000 employees, and a generative AI solution has been trained on the administrative regulations and municipal code to speed access for city staff.
Where cybersecurity is concerned, the city has taken an aggressive approach to protecting its networks, including continuous improvements to its Security Operations Center (SOC), tabletop exercises with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the integration of a threat hunting analyst role within the SOC.
*The Digital Cities Survey is from the Center for Digital Government, which is part of e.Republic, Industry Insider — California's parent company.
